MANILA, Philippines -- The controversial bill that will revive the Bataan Nuclear Power Plant (BNPP) has been losing steam in the House of Representatives with the withdrawal of support of some of its endorsers, a staunch opponent of the bill claimed on Monday.

Etta Rosales, acting president of the Freedom from Debt Coalition (FDC), said that House Bill 6300, the consolidated version of the bill sponsored by Pampanga Representative Juan Miguel Arroyo and principally authored by Pangasinan Representative Mark Cojuangco lists only 125 co-authors.

The original bill of Cojuangco, House Bill 4631, had 185 co-authors.

“We note with interest that there is already a significant reduction of endorsers on the proposed consolidated bill than on the original mother bill,” Rosales said in a statement.

Sought for reaction, Cojuangco said the endorsement of the bill did not guarantee its passage.

“What has to happen is that legislators must be convinced of the merits or demerits of the bill on the day of voting. It is on that day that they make their final decisions,” Cojuangco said in a text message.

“The sponsorship of the bill and the subsequent period of interpellation and debate will bare to all the nitty-gritty of my proposals. This will begin to happen sometime this week,” he said.

“It would be premature for others to claim, that all the details about this issue have been heard before this happens,” he added.

Cojuangco appealed to his colleagues to listen to all debates and “discern between rhetoric and the facts.”

The FDC has been opposing the revival of the mothballed plant because of its potential safety hazards and because of the lack of feasibility study concerning the rehabilitation.

The group said that under the consolidated bill, a P100-million appropriation was being sought to conduct the feasibility study.